Fiveash, Rosa Catherine (1854 - 1938)

Rosa Fiveash was born in Adelaide and became a noted painter of Australian
wildflowers. She studied at the Adelaide Art School under Louis Tannert
and H. P. Gill but taught herself the art of botanical illustration.

Fiveash was commissioned by the government conservator of forests to
illustrate Forest Flora of South Australia which commenced publication
in 1882. Her best known paintings were done in collaboration with Professor
R. S. Rogers and were published in 1911 in South Australian Orchids.

Rosa Fiveash also painted illuminated addresses and is credited with
introducing china painting to Adelaide. On a trip to England, she was astonished
to see some of the designs that passed muster as Australian flowers, being
manufactured by some of England's best known china firms.

There are over 200 works by Rosa Fiveash in the South Australian Museum.
She lived for 75 years in her family home in North Adelaide where she looked
out of her studio onto a garden filled with her favourite subject, Australian
wildflowers.